Healthy Waltham Receives $62K Grant from Tufts Foundation

WALTHAM, MA – The Tufts Health Plan Foundation late last week announced a major grant for Healthy Waltham, a health-oriented community coalition in the Watch City.

The organization awarded Healthy Waltham $62,720 to manage and coordinate Waltham Connections, a collaboration of seniors and stakeholders from local organizations and city government that will focus on supporting diverse populations and addressing gaps in access.

"The momentum is building around age-friendly communities, and we are excited to partner with state
and local leaders in their work to consider and include older adults," said Nora Moreno Cargie, vice
president, corporate citizenship for Tufts Health Plan and president of its Foundation, in a statement. "We are proud collaborators on initiatives that promote cross-sector conversations, address challenges and inequities facing communities, and advance policies and practices that support people of all ages."

Waltham Connections is a collaborative of 12 agencies and senior volunteers addressing four themes that emerged from the 2015 Healthy Aging study in Waltham – social participation, communications and information, inclusion and alleviating social isolation and in-home services coordination.

Groups will work on each of these four themes to plan and carry out advocacy efforts geared toward Waltham seniors. According to a release, the social participation team will focus on nutritional workshops, communications and information will be in charge of improving access to information on community activities and services, the in-home services group will design and implement more responsive services such as home care and meals on wheels and the inclusion group will conduct outreach to minority seniors.

In total, the Tufts Health Plan Foundation announced 13 new grants totaling $1.1 million, which impact close to 150 community organizations in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

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